In the processing of metal turbine engine parts including turbines which have a number of air foils on the outer periphery and which are treated by blasting each of the air foils to peen the surfaces thereof, a problem has existed in the versatility of the equipment used for supporting and rotating the parts to be processed. The processing equipment, particularly for blasting the parts by shot peening, requires a large compartment in which is mounted a robot that controls the position of the blasting gun or guns. Associated with this blasting equipment is the robot, the peening media handling system and other essential components all of which are extremely expensive. Examples of such equipment are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,723,378; 4,780,027; and 4,882,881. Within each of these enclosures as disclosed in the above patents is generally located a turntable for rotating the workpiece as it is being blasted or otherwise treated such as by thermal plasma spray. Such turntables are by themselves quite expensive. Heretofore, if types of workpieces are to be treated such as by shot peening, a compartment with all of the associated robots and blasting equipment have been provided for each workpiece or some arrangements had to be made for replacing the turntables in the compartment. Obviously, because of the cost of the blasting or other processing equipment and robots, it has been desirable to use the same compartment, processing equipment and the robots for processing each different type of workpiece.
An example of a need for processing different types of parts, referred to above, is the processing of smaller parts such as smaller turbine engine parts and larger turbine engine parts on the same turntable. The smaller turbines have a plurality of air foils which require extremely accurate indexing of the air foils in order that the robot-controlled blasting guns can accurately shot peen the surfaces of the foils or blades of a turbine. On the other hand, large workpieces or parts frequently do not require indexing, but are continuously rotated as the surfaces of the parts are shot blasted.